Lew Cody (born Louis Joseph Côté; February 22, 1884 – May 31, 1934) was an American stage and film actor whose career spanned the silent film and early sound film age. He gained notoriety in the late 1910s for playing "male vamps" in films such as Don't Change Your Husband.
Early life and career Cody was born on February 22, 1884 (some sources say 1885) to Louis Joseph Côté and Elizabeth Sarah Côté (née Herbert). His father was French Canadian, with his ancestral lineage dating back to France and Germany, and his mother was a native of Maine. Cody and his younger brothers and sisters were born in Waterville, Maine. After Elizabeth's death, Louis remarried to Marie Lena Rose Toussaint, and they had a daughter named Cecile Côté.
The family moved to Berlin, New Hampshire, where Cody's father owned a drug store. In his youth, Cody worked at his father's drug store as a soda jerk. He later enrolled at McGill University in Montreal where he intended to study medicine but abandoned the idea of setting up in practice and joined a theatre stock company in North Carolina.
He made his debut on the stage in New York in Pierre of the Plains. Cody moved to Los Angeles and began a minor film career at The Balboa Film Studios with Thomas Ince. Cody had at least 99 film credits from 1914 to 1934.
Personal life Cody was married three times. His first two marriages were to actress Dorothy Dalton. They first married in 1910 and divorced in 1911. They remarried in 1913 and were divorced a second time in 1914. Playing the debonair leading man, Cody enjoyed the later single life of "a man's man", which added to his acting persona. In what may have been started as a mutual lark, Cody married Mabel Normand in 1926. Having pre-med schooling, Cody understood that Mabel had acute tuberculosis, so they lived separately and he attended all he possibly could to Mabel's comfort. They remained married until Normand's death from tuberculosis in February 1930.
Death After Mabel's passing, he successfully transitioned into talking pictures and to even better roles. On May 31, 1934, Cody died of a sudden heart attack in his sleep at his home in Beverly Hills, California. He is buried in St. Peter's Cemetery, Lewiston, Maine, in the family plot.
Partial filmography Year Title Role Notes 1914 Harp of Tara Jim Macy Short subject 1915 The Tip-Off Arthur Clarke Short subject The Floating Death Bruce Graham Short subject His Mother's Portrait Darrell Blackley Short subject The Mating 'Bullet Dick' Ames Credited as Lewis J. Cody Lost film The Promoter Jim Howard Short subject Credited as Lewis J. Cody Comrade John Prophet Stein Credited as Lewis J. Cody Should a Wife Forgive? Alfred Bedford 1916 The Buried Treasure of Cobre Professor Peabody Short subject Credited as Louis Cody The Crime of Circumstance Short subject The Grinning Skull Donald Harvey Short subject The Cycle of Fate Sid Aldrich Credited as Lewis Cody The Oath of Hate Short subject 1917 A Noble Fraud Short subject Credited as Lewis J. Cody The Bride's Silence Paul Wagner Credited as Lewis J. Cody Southern Pride Robert Orme Short subject A Game of Wits Larry Caldwell A Branded Soul John Rannie Lost film 1918 Painted Lips Jim Douglass Daddy's Girl John Standlaw Mickey Reggie Drake Credited as Lewis Cody; co-starring Mabel Normand For Husbands Only Rolin Van D'Arcy Lost film Treasure of the Sea Jim Hardwick The Bride's Awakening Richard Earle The Demon Jim Lassells Credited as Lewis Cody Playthings John Hayward Beans Kirk Borrowed Clothes Stuart Furth 1919 Don't Change Your Husband Schuyler Van Sutphen co-starring Gloria Swanson; directed by Cecil B. DeMille Are You Legally Married? John Stark Lost film Men, Women and Money Cleveland Buchanan Our Better Selves Willard Standish Lost film The Life Line Philip Royston co-starring Wallace Beery The Broken Butterfly Daniel Thorn The Beloved Cheater Bruce Sands Lost film As the Sun Went Down Faro Bill Lost film 1920 The Butterfly Man Sedgewick Blynn Lost film Occasionally Yours Bruce Sands 1921 The Sign on the Door Frank Devereaux 1922 The Valley of Silent Men Cpl. James Kent Incomplete film The Secrets of Paris King Rudolph Lost film Dangerous Pastime Barry Adams 1923 Rupert of Hentzau Rupert of Hentzau Sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda Lost film Jacqueline Raoul Radon Lost film Souls for Sale Owen Scudder Within the Law Joe Garson Lawful Larceny Guy Tarlow Lost film Reno Roy Tappan 1924 The Shooting of Dan McGrew Dangerous Dan McGrew The Woman on the Jury George Montgomery / George Wayne Lost film Defying the Law Pietro Savori Lost film Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model Walter Peck Three Women Edmund Lamont Revelation Count Adrian de Roche Husbands and Lovers Rex Phillips So This is Marriage? Daniel Rankin 1925 Man and Maid Sir Nicholas Thormonde Lost film The Sporting Venus Prince Carlos Starring Blanche Sweet and Ronald Colman A Slave of Fashion Nicholas Wentworth co-starring Norma Shearer Lost film The Tower of Lies Victor Seastrom co-starring Lon Chaney and Norma ShearerBlake, Michael F. (1998). "The Films of Lon Chaney". Vestal Press Inc. Page 151. . Lost film Exchange of Wives John Rathburn His Secretary David Colman co-starring Norma Shearer Lost film 1926 Monte Carlo Tony Townsend The Gay Deceiver Toto/Antoine di Tillois Lost film 1927 The Demi-Bride Philippe Levaux Lost film On Ze Boulevard Gaston Pasqual Adam and Evil Adam Trevelyan / Allan Trevelyan Lost film Tea for Three Carter Langford Lost film 1928 Wickedness Preferred Anthony Dare Lost film Beau Broadway Jim Lambert Lost film The Baby Cyclone Joe Meadows Lost film Show People Himself Uncredited 1929 A Single Man Robin Worthington Lost film 1930 What a Widow! Victor co-starring Gloria Swanson Lost film Divorce Among Friends Paul Wilcox 1931 Dishonored Colonel Kovrin Not Exactly Gentlemen Ace Beaudry Three Girls Lost William (Jack) Marriott Starring John Wayne and Loretta Young Beyond Victory Lew Cavanaugh co-starring ZaSu Pitts Stout Hearts and Willing Hands The Villain Short subject Sweepstakes Wally Weber A Woman of Experience Captain Otto von Lichstein The Common Law Dick Carmedon co-starring Constance Bennett and Hedda Hopper Meet the Wife Philip Lord co-starring Laura La Plante Sporting Blood Tip Scanlon co-starring Clark Gable X Marks the Spot George Howe 1932 The Crusader Jimmie Dale File 113 M. Gaston Le Coq Beautiful and Dumb Short subject The Tenderfoot Joe Lehman 70,000 Witnesses Slip Buchanan The Crusader Jimmie Dale Madison Square Garden Rourke The Unwritten Law Roger Morgan A Parisian Romance Baron co-starring Gilbert Roland Under-Cover Man Kenneth Mason 1933 By Appointment Only Dr. Michael Travers Wine, Women and Song Morgan Andrews Sitting Pretty Jules Clark co-starring Ginger Rogers and Thelma Todd I Love That Man Labels Castell 1934 Private Scandal Benjamin J. Somers co-starring ZaSu Pitts Shoot the Works Axel Hanratty
References
External links
Photographs and literature on Lew Cody